Margherita Pizza

Update:  Pizza dough recipe added at the bottom.

This pizza is delicious and incredibly simple.  For best results sing Dean Martin's That's Amore while preparing the food.  I am always too lazy to make my own dough even though it is not hard.  A lot of good grocery stores carry frozen or ready to use pizza dough.  This recipe is reverse engineered from a local Italian restaurant.  Ingredients follow:

Margherita pizza ingredients

  Pizza Dough

Olive Oil

Garlic

Fresh Mozzarella

Tomatoes

Fresh Basil

Dried Oregano

Preheat the oven to 425 F.  spread some flour on the pizza pan / baking surface to keep the dough from sticking.  Spread the dough evenly to desired thickness - rolling pin, hand tossed, any method will do.  I like this particular pizza variety thin crusted.  

Amore

Spread olive oil over the dough.  Mince garlic over the olive oil covered dough.  Apply the mozzarella evenly.  Slice a tomato or two and crush and drain excess liquid.  When I forget to do this the result is a soggy pizza.  Place the tomatoes on the pizza.  Sprinkle dried oregano, salt, and pepper over the pizza.  Cut the basil in strips and place the basil on the pizza.  Bake for 12  - 15 minutes until crust begins to brown.

Pizza, spread the ingredients out - a little goes a long way and simpler is better.

Addendum:
 Britt at Chicago Runner Girl was so kind as to provide a recipe for dough.  Here it is:

As promised, here is my pizza dough recipe. It yields 1 pie.

1 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour

1 t. Salt

3/4 t. Dry Yeast

1 T. Honey

1/2 cup Warm Water

1 T. Olive Oil

In the warm water, add the yeast and honey. Let it sit for a few minutes to activate the yeast.

In a large bowl combine the flour, salt, and olive oil. I like to put the olive oil in first so that flour chunks do not get caught on the bottom of the bowl. After the yeast has had a few minutes to activate, add the warm water to the flour and combine into a ball.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface. In the cooler months the dough may need to rest a few minutes before kneading so that the gluten does not become activated. I like to keep the dough in a ball on the floured surface with the bowl upside down on top of it to create some humidity to allow it to begin to proof for a few minutes before the kneading.

Knead until dough becomes one homogeneous ball. Take the bowl and spray the inside with cooking spray then place the dough inside and cover with either a damp towel or plastic wrap.

Depending on the time of year and humidity, it takes roughly 2-3 hours to proof the dough. After an hour you can punch it down, as well as about another 15 minutes before use. Sometimes it maybe a bit sticky, but don't be afraid to add some extra flour because this dough is really friendly.

Bon Appetite!

Britt

Lake Superior Camping: Swim, Paddle, & Run

I found myself on Lake Superior this past week in Wisconsin’s Big Bay State Park for some kayaking, swimming, running, and camping.  This park is on Madeline Island which is one of the apostle islands, an area known for good paddling.  The trip was too short at 3 nights and 2 days but was a lot of fun.  Weather was gorgeous and ranged from 70 - 80°F during the day.  It rained the last night there which, made packing up and unpacking everything at home to dry lame but otherwise, good things.  The pictures tell a better story than my words can.

Getting ready for a swim.

Just before the trip I got a wetsuit in the mail.  I figured I can use all the help I can get for my upcoming sprint tri and can also get good use out of it kayaking.  I took the wetsuit up to get familiar with it and get some open water swim practice in.  The beach area was fairly shallow as it has sandbars that go out some ways.  Water temperature in the shallows is cool but warmer than the rest of the lake and comfortable for a short duration.  That said it also gets deep fast and there are some strong currents that would sweep us and our kayaks away from the shore in short order.  Lake Superior is massive, and very far North and sub sequentially very cold.  To call it a lake is an understatement, it looks more like an ocean.  My wife paddled a kayak at my side as I swam but I was very mindful of my surroundings.

The vast expanse that is Lake Superior.

            

I dove in the water without the wetsuit to get a feel for the temperature.  Breathing is difficult enough when swimming without the shock that accompanies cold water.  It took a little getting used to but I don’t imagine swimming any duration in cold water without a wetsuit is a good idea.  Alternatively swimming with the wetsuit was very comfortable and easy.  I swam fast as I ever have and knocked down 500 yards in 11:26 with energy to spare.  Five weeks ago I could not swim even 50 yards.  The only trouble I had was my goggles fogging, which I am still looking for solutions.

Paddling back to shore.  The water was clean.  I even filtered some and drank it.

After knocking out the swim it was time to paddle.  Talk about a good core workout.  Even getting the boats the 1/4 mile to shore was a workout in itself.  My wife and I went out on the big water and came back to shore for lunch and some sun.  After eating we paddled back to our launch site for a round trip of 3 miles.  Any future trip will include far more paddling than this – driving 800 miles with kayaks on the roof demands it.  Next year I would like to paddle to another island, overnight it, and paddle back in the morning.

Base Camp

The following day my wife and I set out on a long run turned into an unplanned 16 mile trail/road run at a very comfortable conversation pace.  We took it easy, stopped to take pictures, eat, and take in the scenery.  It was unhurried, simple, and fun.  Running should always be enjoyable and recreational runs are a good way to mix it up.  Perhaps the spirit of this run was motivated by the words out of Born to Run which I brought along to read at my wife’s encouragement (I know I am late to the party on this one).  I am looking forward to getting in some more trail running and already have a camping and running trip planned for the North Face Endurance challenge in two weeks.     

         

Tomato Harvest

The past month my garden has been providing a steady flow of fresh peppers, tomatoes, herbs, and raspberries.  It has been nice to have fresh garden ingredients in breakfast burritos, scrambled eggs, margherita pizzas, mojitos, tacos and tortilla soup.  

Today the tomato supply reached critical mass with more on the way.  I have more tomatoes than the grocery store and need to do something with them.    I'm thinking gazpacho, tomato soup, tomato sauce, bourbon barbecue sauce, roast corn salsa, bloody marys, and simply canning some whole.  The pressure cooker is new for this year, it will be my first time canning.  I will share all the creations here.

What is your favorite dish involving tomatoes?  I know some people hate them, but why?  What would you do with these tomatoes?  Thanks for reading.

An assortment of Roma, Better Boy, Big Boy, and Cherry tomatoes.  The Romas  are the most prevalent.  A pressure cooker for canning is seen on the left.  

Cayenne Pepper Tomato Hot Sauce

This sweet meets heat hot sauce makes for a delicious addition to tacos.  The one Cayenne pepper plant I have in the garden has been producing an abundance of peppers and I have been trying to get as much use out of them as I can in addition to giving them to neighbors.  I may need to dry some out or can some in the near future for use in chilies.  Ingredients follow:

Cayenne pepper tomato hot sauce ingredients

1 white onion diced

2 tomatoes stemmed and diced

5 Garlic cloves peeled

3 – 5 cayenne peppers

2 Tbs Apple Cider Vinegar

Pinch Whole Allspice

Juice of ½ lemon

Coat a pan with olive oil and heat on low.  Add the peppers and cook for 5 – 10 minutes.  Add the onion garlic, and allspice and cook for an additional 3- 5 minutes until the onions are translucent.  Add the apple cider vinegar, deglaze as necessary and cook for an additional minute.  Remove from heat.  Stem the peppers.  The heat of the sauce can be tempered by removing seeds if desired.  Add the contents of the pan and the remaining ingredients to a blender and blend for 2-3 minutes.  Be careful when blending hot ingredients.  Salt and pepper to taste.  To reduce the sauce, crush the tomatoes in advance, draining the liquid or boil off some of the liquid of the finished product as desired.    

Cayenne pepper tomato hot sauce applied to chicken tacos.

I added this hot sauce to chicken tacos with some hard grating cheese, lime, and fresh avocado.  The chicken was shredded from a whole chicken I used to make chicken stock and included the heart and liver.  These organs are packed with nutrition and minerals and encouraged by the Paleolithic solution.  Corn tortillas were used and are definitely not Paleolithic; it will be difficult to find a substitute.

Cayenne pepper, cashew, tomato, basil chicken

This creation was inspired by fresh ingredients that came out of the garden and whatever else happened to be in the kitchen.  Cayenne peppers, tomatoes, and basil are all garden crops in abundance this time of year.  Total prep and cook time for this was less than 1/2 an hour.  Ingredients follow:

2 Chicken Breasts
5 fresh tomatoes
2 cups fresh basil loosely packed
1/2 cup raw cashews
3 - 5 cayenne peppers

An assortment of Better Boy and Roma tomatoes, basil, and cayenne peppers.

Coat a pan with olive oil and heat on low.  Cut the chicken breasts into strips and season with salt and pepper or your favorite all purpose seasoning.  Cook the chicken in the frying pan and reserve. 

Stem and seed the cayenne peppers and dice.  Some of the seeds can be kept to increase the heat of the dish.  I did not respect these peppers and handled them with my bear hands and paid for it with aching fingers later.  Stem the tomatoes and dice.  Also dice the basil.

Heat olive oil in a wok and add the cayenne peppers and cook for a few minutes.  Add in the cashews and cook for two minutes.  Add the tomatoes and chicken and cook for 1 minute.  Add the basil and mix in for the last 30 seconds.  Enjoy the sweet heat of tomato basil and cayenne in this paleolithic meal.

The tomatoes and basil give the dish a light sweet flavor and the cayenne peppers give it a nice heat.  Occasional cashews add nice texture and flavor variety

   

Triathlon Training Third Week

Two weeks to go until my first sprint triathlon and I am much more confident than I was at the start of my journey.    This past week was hard hitting and marked the completion of my fourth full week of triathlon training following my running injury and change of plans.  Emphasis was placed on running and swimming.  Bike mileage was higher than it has been but intensity was low.  The coming two weeks I will taper into the event.  Going forward I will need to make sleep a priority.  Activity for the week of 21 Aug 2011 is shown below:

Sunday:  7 mile run – 6x 800m (2:50 average) intervals w/1:30 rest

Monday:  1 hour swim (1500 yd + drills) 

Tuesday:  Bike run brick, 15 mile bike (45:55), 3 min transition, 5 mile tempo run (6:39 pace)

Wednesday:  1 hour swim (1500 yd + drills) 

Thursday:  2+ hour bike to work, 13.5 mile bike, 18.5 mile bike

Friday:  1 hour swim (500 yd + drills)

Saturday:  10 mile recovery bike, 10 mile long run (6:56 pace)

Totals:

                                    

Swim:  3 hours, 3500 yd + drills

Bike:  4 hours, 58 miles

Run:  3 hours, 22 miles      

Swim

I feel much more confident in the water these days.  I have had success with adjusting my pacing, breathing, and swimming longer distances.  This week I managed to swim 250 yards continuously and not end up panicked and out of breath.  Just 4 weeks ago 25 and 50 yards were my upper limit.  At 6:29 or 39 seconds per 25 yard I am not the fastest but speed will come in due time.  I can push this pace much faster but end up out of breath, and exhausted– not good feelings in the water.   This week I will get some open water swim in Lake Superior in my new wetsuit and continue to build endurance.    

Bike

Bike volume was much higher than it has been.  I got one intense ride in on my road bike as part of a bike run brick.  The rest were more casual trips on my hybrid bike.  I biked to work and biked with my dog as my wife ran.  I don’t know how much my company was appreciated but the dog had fun.  I can see more recreational biking in my future, it is a good recovery workout and the weather has been perfect.  As I taper running I might add some more bike intensity in the next two weeks.     

Run

I finally got in all three of the key runs I was planning, intervals, tempo, and distance.  Like I mentioned earlier the weather has been perfect.  My 10 mile long run went great.  It seems I have rapidly recovered some the running specific fitness I lost following my foot injury. 

6:44, 6:50, 7:03, 6:54, 7:06, 7:02, 7:00, 6:53, 6:56, 6:49

I didn’t know what to expect out of my 5 mile tempo run since it was the second part of a bike run brick.  I felt stronger than my first brick and my pacing was more consistent.  There was a 100 foot climb the third mile I swear.  I felt stronger as the run went on.

6:48, 6:33, 6:51, 6:32, 6:36  

Intervals were a good time.  Come to think of it intervals were the only workout I got an honest warm up and cool down in for.  I find intervals go beyond running as they take on a strength training like quality, much the same way hill repeats do.  6x 800m repeats with a 1:30 rest interval were sandwiched between a 2.5 mile warm up and a 1 mile cool down.

2:48, 2:49, 2:48, 2:53, 2:52, 2:52

Next week’s distance and tempo runs will be shorter but intervals will push the envelope with mile repeats.

My Uniformed Take on Paleolithic Nutrition

I Love, love, love training and all things food.  These two basic human activities cannot be untangled, they are one.  These lifetime endeavors stagnate and die without an accompanying intellectual pursuit.  That is why I also love, love, love exploring training and nutrition theory.  It gives me direction, understanding, and avenues for improvement.  I applaud everyone that came before me and unselfishly passed down their knowledge for my study.  Striking out on my own has its place but with so much material out there why reinvent the wheel?

My youngest sister sent me the book The Paleolithic Solution by Robb Wolf.  Yes, I have an established way of eating, but that is not going to stop me from learning about this and giving it a try for a month.  I am not above mixing things up, last year I was Vegan for a week as part nutrition and social experiments.  I never became vegan but did incorporate some of what I learned in my eating rituals.  That is for another post, back on topic.  My sister is very into fitness, eating healthy, and has social abilities that far exceed my own.  It seems simple enough to send someone a book to read and apply its message in life while doing the same thing, but it is a thought that never occurred to me.  I am blessed to have her as it is nice to have someone taking a similar path to discuss these things with.

   

So I want to get out my uniformed take on Paleolithic nutrition and associated concerns.  I refrain from using the word “diet” as a function of its rampant abuse.  After I am better researched and have given Paleo a fair try I will have to revisit these things.  Please keep in mind these ramblings could be completely false and not representative of what Paleolithic nutrition is.  This is the beginning of my journey.

Paleolithic nutrition is rejection of the agricultural revolution that brought us grains and legumes.  What happens when a cow or chicken eats grains and I eat them?  How many degrees of separation from modern agriculture are required?  Will the Paleolithic gods frown on my stray from ideology or is it more of a do the best you can?

Dairy is out of play.  This is what makes dairy consuming vegetarians and no animal products ever vegans worlds apart.  At least paleo includes meat consumption.

Meat and Vegetables seem to be the only things in play.  Fruits are on a case by case basis.  Entire food preparation methods are also excluded, deep frying is probably one of them.

No alcohol.                          

How will I meet the calorie needs of training without grains?  I will need to give up my favorite oatmeal, peanut butter, and berries breakfast.  Grains are much cheaper than meat and vegetables per calorie.  Maybe the money I save on beer will offset the cost?  Do I need to pawn my mama's TV for extra cash?  

Steel cut oats, peanut butter, blueberries and strawberries.  Oats are not paleolithic and it breaks my heart.

I will make the transition to Paleo after the sprint triathlon I have planned in early September.  My training leading up to the Men’s Health Urbanathlon will use the Paleo solution and I will report my findings then.  As I will be in Chicago deep dish pizza will be a must so I expect that weekend may also mark a lapse or end to the paleolithic experiment.  Exploring new ideas and learning are noble lifetime engagements.  In this journey it is important to apply critical thought and research something for you rather than to take anothers conclusions on the subject.

Triathlon Training Second Week

Time is getting short for what will be my first Sprint Triathlon in 3 weeks.  This past week marked the completion of my third full week of training for it.  I spent the beginning of the week recovering from a stomach bug.  In the little time I made for training I focused on building swim and run endurance.  I am hoping for better weeks ahead.  Activity for the week of 14 Aug 2011 is shown below:

Sunday:  sick

Monday:  8 mile long run (7:12 pace) 

Tuesday:  10 mile bike (1 hour)

Wednesday:  day of rest

Thursday:  45 min swim (750 yd + drills)

Friday:  9 mile long run (7:01 pace)

Saturday:  45 min swim (750 yd + drills)

Totals:

                                    

Swim:  1.5 hours, 1500 yd + drills

Bike:  1 hour, 10 miles

Run:  2  hours, 17 miles      

Swim

I finally traded in board shorts for jammers and found them far better suited for the task at hand.  I read up on swimming and watched a lot of video this past week.  I have re-read some of the same materials a few times now, each pass more meaningful then the last.  Applying what I learned and focusing on streamlining got my stroke count per 25 yd down to 13-15, a noticeable improvement from last week.  This week I will focus on more controlled breathing while I build endurance.    

Bike

Bike volume was unfortunately low for a third week in a row.  I got one recovery ride in on my upright bike.  I was sick that day and this ride was the easiest I have taken it in recent memory.  My plans to cycle were called off for lengthy Baseball game that proved to be a good time.  After 3 weeks of low cycling volume I suspect this upcoming week may be the week I compensate for the recent past. 

Run

My dog has been performing poorly as of late so I gave him a bath, brush, clipped nails, and cleaned ears in hopes it would make him faster.  I had mixed results but think it takes him longer to recover at his ripe old age of 5 years than when he was younger and less stubborn.  Run mileage was the highest it has been since I hurt my foot.  My plans to get in an interval, tempo, and distance run were changed because I was sick.  Monday’s run made me sick longer then I had to be.  I have lost some run fitness since my injury as my long run pace is close to 15 seconds off from where it was but the future looks promising.  This week I should be able to get in all three runs.